From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A break at work is a period of time during a shift in which an
employee is allowed to take time off from his/her job. There are
different types of breaks, and depending on the length and the
employer's policies, the break may or may not be paid.

Contents

Types of
breaks

Advertisements

Meal
breaks

Meal breaks or lunch breaks
usually range from 30 minutes to one hour. Their purpose is to
allow the employee to have a meal that is regularly scheduled
during the work day. For a typical daytime job, this is lunch, but
this may vary for those with other work hours. It is not uncommon
for this break to be unpaid, and for the entire work day from start
to finish to be longer than the number of hours paid in order to
accommodate this time.

According to a study, the amount of time people are taking for
lunch breaks in the United States is shrinking, thereby
making the term "lunch hour" a myth[1].
Some employers request the lunch to be taken at their work station
or not offering lunch breaks at all. Many employees are taking
shorter lunch breaks in order to compete with other employees for a
better position, and to show their productivity[2].

In some places, such as the state of California, meal breaks are legally
mandated.[1]
Penalties can be severe for failing to adequately staff one's
business premises so that all employees can rotate through their
mandatory meal and rest breaks. For example, on April 16, 2007, the
Supreme Court of California
unanimously affirmed a trial court judgment requiring Kenneth Cole Productions to
pay an additional hour of pay for each day that a store manager had
been forced to work a nine hour shift without a break.[3]

Restroom/WC
breaks

A short break to allow an employee to use a restroom or WC and will generally last less than 10 minutes.
Many employers expect their employees to use the facilities during
their regularly scheduled breaks and lunches. Denying employees
rights to use the facilities as needed could be to the detriment of
a worker's health and a potential legal issue.[4]
Employers and co-workers often frown on employees who are seen as
taking too many of these breaks, and this could be a cause for
termination.

Snack
breaks

Snack breaks are usually shorter than meal
breaks, and allow an employee to have a quick snack, or to
accomplish other personal needs. Similar types of breaks include
restroom and smoke breaks. These breaks are also
required in the state of California; one 10-15 minute break for
every 3.5 hours worked. Some employers allow employees to stop
their work for short durations at any time to take care of these
needs.

Smoking
breaks

Many companies in the 21st century don't allow smoking on their
property, although some employers allow workers to leave the
premises to smoke, and some jurisdictions have laws prohibiting
smoking in an enclosed place where others are employed. Smoke
breaks can be of different lengths but for the most part are
shorter than lunch breaks. Some employers are very strict about
smoking. Alaska
Airlines, bans smoking and use of tobacco for employees, even
outside the workplace. A criticism of smoking breaks is that non
smoking employees do not receive the small respite because they
simply do not smoke. [5] Stephen
Chiverton takes the world's longest smoking breaks and smokes more
than he works!